Location

About this Event

You are warmly invited to a Forming a Christian Mind (FACM) day conference which will take place on 9 February, 2019 at the McGrath Centre, St Catharine’s College Cambridge. The theme of this conference is ‘Christ Among the Disciplines: Approaching your Subject in the Light of the Gospel’. This conference follows up on the main FACM conference in November, and it is intended for anyone doing postgraduate study or postdoctoral research.

Our morning plenary will be delivered by Dr Craig Bartholomew(KLICE, Tyndale House Cambridge): ‘The Drama of Scripture: a Christian Worldview and your Specialty’: If Christ is Lord of all things, how does His Lordship apply to our academic disciplines? Craig will discuss the narrative of Scripture and how it speaks to our scholarship.

This will be followed by a shorter talk by Prof John Lennox (Oxford) on the topic ‘Has Naturalism taken hold in my Discipline?’ John will lead us in an exploration of naturalism as a worldview and its impact on the current practice of our disciplines. He will help us think about how we might respond to naturalistic assumptions across a range of disciplines.

Tracks for Subject-Groups

After lunch, we will gather in major subject groups: Arts & Humanities, Maths & Sciences, and Social Sciences. These will be led by Dr Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin (Philosophy of Art, King’s College London), Prof Lennox (Mathematics, Oxford), and Prof Julian Rivers (Law, Bristol). These subject groups are an excellent opportunity to hear from academics who have sought to apply the Christian worldview to their discipline. We will also break into smaller discussion groups by particular discipline.

Forming a Christian Mind (FACM) equips Christians in the academic world for their double calling: to study excellently from the basis of a biblical worldview, and to use what they study for cultural apologetics and mission.

The conference explores how the Christian faith interacts with personal and academic development. It aims to help postgraduates and post-docs to develop their capacity to think biblically about their discipline and address the tensions between secular and Christian perspectives on their subject, both in the university and in wider society. It is open to academics across the sciences, arts and humanities, demonstrating how Christian worldview is vital to every area of study.

FACM is a movement in Cambridge constituting a partnership between the Jubilee Centre, KLICE, Christian Heritage and UCCF, with support from churches and other local ministries including the Christian Graduate Society.

The event is primarily for postgraduates, post-docs and junior academics; however anyone who is pursuing an academic career in other ways is welcome.